Deputies: ’No knife.’ Spruce Creek High School lockdown lifted

Friday

The school was locked down Friday afternoon as police investigated the possibility that a student had a knife on campus and was going to hurt another student.

Reports that a student said he had a knife and was going to hurt another student prompted authorities to lock down Spruce Creek High School for less than an hour on Friday afternoon, according to a message sent to parents.

The lock down was lifted just before 2 p.m., when the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office tweeted, "We tracked down the parties involved and there’s no knife."

The agency said interviews are continuing.

About an hour before, the Sheriff’s Office tweeted about "a third-hand report of a possible knife on campus."

Michelle Newman, the district’s director of safety, security and emergency management, said the tip came in through Fortify Florida, an app where anyone can report information about potential threats at schools.

"We’re very responsive," Newman said about what happens when a tip like this comes in. "We take it very seriously."

Lockdown lifted. We tracked down the parties involved and there's no knife. Interviews are continuing. Thanks all! https://t.co/4lBaOmvXgq

— Volusia Sheriff (@VolusiaSheriff) March 6, 2020

Sheriff’s department spokesman Andrew Gant said in addition to the school resource deputies, more sheriff’s deputies several other units were deployed to the school.

Officials at Spruce Creek High School were reprimanded recently for their handling of another security breach at the school in September, in which a drunken homeless man with a knife in his pocked was able to sit down in a classroom full of students.

Since being appointed to the new position last month, Newman said she’s been touring campuses and looking for any type of deficiencies at campuses across the district. And schools are still in the process of adding extra "layers" of protections, like perimeter fences and glass windows in school lobbies.